From interviews with the actors in On The Waterfront:
“If you know anything about Berkoff, his background is in mime and he’s very much into this sort of powerful, slow motion movement. It’s effective. It’s amazing what he can produce with very little in the way of props,” says Sean Buckley, who plays Pop Doyle in On The Waterfront.
“Okay, there’s this guy got to be thrown off the top of a five-storey building; how are we going to do that?”
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Under Berkoff’s direction, the production takes a typically minimalist approach, featuring nothing but 12 actors,12 chairs and some effective use of lighting.
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Buckley describes the processes leading to the mime sequences in the play, which grew out of workshop sessions in 2006.
“You start at the beginning and you think: ‘Okay, there’s this guy got to be thrown off the top of a three or five-storey building or whatever; how are we going to do that?
“So you work it and you discover a way of doing it, with lights, and with slow motion – and it seems to work. It’s been received very positively. Some people can’t get on with the slow-mo stuff, but I think they soon forget about it. You forget that there’s mime involved and you actually start ‘seeing’ the stuff that you’re miming.”
Vincenzo Nicoli, who plays the priest Father Barry in the production, agrees: “12 chairs, 12 costumes, that’s basically it. There’s no intricate, realistic, ultra-naturalistic set or anything.
“I think it’s probably easier for the actor, because you can create a whole world and ask the audience to imagine what you’re creating. So each and every audience member has their own idea in their head about what they’re seeing - there’s nothing in the way.”
And how was it to work under the direction of Mr Berkoff?
“Very, very intense. He’s a man who knows what he wants, he’s got a vision and he makes sure he gets it. So, yes, you have to work very closely with him and take note of what he tells you,” laughs Buckley, before adding: “but he’s a good lad.”
The link is here
www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/view_item.aspx?item_id=50384